Fool for Love, page 1
Table Of Contents
Other Books by Rachael Sommers
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Other Books from Ylva Publishing
About Rachael Sommers
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Other Books by Rachael Sommers
Never Say Never
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I’d like to thank Astrid at Ylva Publishing for giving me the chance to be a published author, and for your patience and help every step of the way. Thanks to C.S. Conrad for everything you did to help me develop and improve this manuscript from its earliest draft. I’m a better writer because of everything you taught me. Thanks to my editors, Alissa McGowan and Sheena Billett for making this story the best it can be. Gane and Yan—I appreciate everything you did for me as beta readers.
Finally, Laura: I know my deadline for this came at the worst possible time, but you did everything you could to support me anyway. I love you more than anything.
Chapter 1
A sea of black and white loomed on the horizon, and Chloe eased her foot off the accelerator, wincing as she failed to skirt around one of the many potholes on the poorly surfaced country road.
In the passenger seat, Naomi jerked away from the window she’d been dozing against for the better part of the last hour. “Are we—”
“—there yet?” Chloe finished the question she’d been asked at least ten times already since they’d driven out of London’s city limits. “Nearly. There’s a hold up.” She nodded toward the herd of animals ambling across the road in front of them and brought her van to a stop a few feet away.
Naomi’s face brightened at the sight. “They’re so cute!”
“They’re bloody dangerous.” Chloe had had more than one close encounter with a cow when she was younger.
“But look at those faces.” Naomi leaned forward in her seat to get a better look, elbows resting on the dashboard.
The movement disturbed the Labrador sitting at her feet. Bella rested her head on the seat between the two of them, staring at Chloe with big brown eyes.
Chloe reached out to scratch behind her ears. “Not long now,” she said. “How are you holding up, gorgeous?”
“Not so bad, thanks,” Naomi said, and Chloe smacked her on the side of the arm. “Ow! Is that any way to treat the best friend doing you a massive favour?”
“Please, it didn’t hurt.”
“It did. Right in my feelings,” Naomi said, solemn.
Chloe rolled her eyes.
“How long does it take a herd of cows to cross a road?”
Chloe chuckled. “Has the novelty worn off already?”
“We’ve been driving for hours, Chloe.” Patience had never been one of Naomi’s strong suits. “I need to pee.”
“I told you to go when we stopped at the service station.”
“I didn’t need it then.”
“Well, there’s a bush over there”—Chloe pointed out the window—“if you’re desperate.” Chloe grinned as Naomi’s nose wrinkled. “It’s not like there’s anyone around.”
“Uh, yes, there is. There’s someone right there.”
She was right. A woman on horseback rode behind the stragglers of the herd. Her jeans were tucked into red wellies, caked in mud, and blonde hair curled around the collar of her black body warmer.
She passed in front of the van, and Chloe sucked in a breath. It had been years—eighteen, to be precise. Her face was older, and there were now laugh lines around the corners of her mouth and her eyes, but she was instantly recognisable.
Amy Edwards.
Chloe had never dreamed she’d lay eyes on her again.
Amy turned, raising a hand as if to thank them for waiting, and Chloe ducked in her seat so she was half-hidden by the wheel.
“Um, what the fuck are you doing?” Naomi looked at her like she’d grown a second head.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Naomi’s eyebrows twitched. “It sure doesn’t look like nothing.”
“I had an itch.” She scratched the outside of her knee, trying to peer through the windscreen to see if Amy had gone without revealing too much of herself. Thankfully, she had passed into the other field.
“Yeah, right.” Naomi’s eyes bored into the side of her head as Chloe straightened in her seat and tapped on the accelerator. “Do you know her or something?”
Chloe didn’t answer at first. Her throat felt tight, emotion welling in her chest, and she gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles flashed white. What was Amy still doing here? She’d sworn once she was out of Corthwaite she’d never come back—but Chloe had, too, and yet, here she was, driving down the single road that wound through the village centre, swallowing against the sudden rush of memories that assaulted her.
“Chloe?”
“Yeah. That’s Amy.”
“Amy?” Out of the corner of her eye, Chloe watched Naomi’s nose wrinkle. “Why do I know the name? Wait.” A hand gripped Chloe’s elbow, and Chloe kept her gaze trained on the road. “The Amy? The one you were still pining over when we first met? The one who broke your heart?”
That’s putting it lightly, Chloe thought, clenching her teeth. As far as first loves went, traumatic didn’t begin to cover it.
“Did you know she was still going to be around?”
“No.” If Chloe had, she might have hesitated to come back—or would have mentally prepared herself for the possibility of seeing her again, at least.
“You okay?”
Chloe blew out a long breath. “Yeah.” It didn’t change anything, after all. If Chloe had it her way, she wouldn’t be seeing much of Amy—or any of the rest of the village—at all. Get in and get out, as fast as physically possible. That was the plan, and Chloe was determined to stick to it.
The village looked the same. A handful of buildings dotted along the main road. The florist where her mum had worked sat beside the newsagents, the only place for four miles if you needed a pint of milk. The hairdresser opposite was new, replacing the butcher, and the King’s Head still stood proud on the corner, sign swinging in the wind.
They passed the church, and Chloe turned off the main road and onto a dirt track up a steep hill. In the distance, fields of green dotted with sheep and cows stretched across the horizon, the mountains beyond a dusty brown. In a few months they’d be dotted with snow, the lake winding around the foot of them would ice over, and the view would look like a stock photo for a wintry snow globe.
“Wow.” Naomi said, wide eyes taking in the sight. “This is gorgeous.”
Despite her misgivings about returning home, Chloe had to agree. As much as she loved the London skyline, it had nothing on a view like this.
The track ended in a gravel driveway, and Chloe’s childhood home rose to meet them. It had been nearly three years since it had been occupied, and it showed—the drive was overrun by weeds and the ivy winding up the front wall of the house grew wild, covering the arched windows in places. Through the broken wooden fence leading to the back garden, Chloe spotted grass so high it could probably swallow all five feet eight inches of her.
She dreaded to think what the inside looked like.
Chloe pulled the car to a stop, and Naomi let out a low whistle. “Jesus Christ, Chloe, I knew your family was loaded, but this? This place is massive. Did you…did you have servants?”
A laugh bubbled in Chloe’s throat. “No. We had a housekeeper when I was younger. A groundskeeper at one point, too. He’d have a heart attack if he knew I’d let it get this bad.”
“Well, it looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you here, Chlo. You sure you’re up for this?”
“You know I like a challenge.”
* * *
Dust puffed from the hall carpet as Chloe stepped over the threshold, tickling the back of her throat, and she scrunched her nose, fighting back a sneeze.
“Well, I know what our first order of business will be,” Naomi said, following her inside and running a finger along the wooden banister of the stairs. She showed Chloe her grey finger. “Scrubbing this place from top to bottom.”
“Yup. Aren’t you glad you came with me?”
“Oh, delighted.” Naomi’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but she was smiling, and Chloe hip bumped her as she stepped past to push open the door of the living room. Bella followed along behind.
Small and cosy, it hadn’t changed much since Chloe’s last visit three years
She reached for the light switch on the wall, breathing out a sigh of relief when the bulb overhead flickered to life. She’d called the electricity company three weeks ago requesting that they turn the supply to the house back on, and she was thankful she wouldn’t have to call again to chase them up.
Backing out of the room, she followed the sound of clanging cupboard doors into the kitchen, where she found Naomi standing on her tiptoes.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Chlo, but I think your dad might have been a hoarder.”
Chloe groaned at the sight of stacks upon stacks of kitchen utensils and crockery, far more than one man would have ever possibly needed to use. “It’s going to take six months to clear everything out.”
“Nah.” Naomi gave her a comforting pat on the back. “You’ve got this.”
Chloe wasn’t so sure, but she hadn’t been lying earlier—she did love a challenge.
And her first?
Make it so every inhale didn’t make her want to cough up a lung.
She locked Bella in the kitchen with some toys to keep her occupied, knowing she’d cower away from the vacuum cleaner anyway. Naomi disappeared upstairs with bleach, a sponge, and some rubber gloves to tackle the bathrooms, and Chloe got to work on reducing the dust level.
Once the ground floor was habitable, she freed Bella and began on the stairs. She started with the picture frames on the wall, gently wiping away the thick layer of grime covering the glass and smiling at the scenes pictured beneath.
The first was her parents on their wedding day, staring at one another like they’d hung the moon and stars in the sky, bathed in the glow of the setting sun. Chloe had grown up wanting to find someone who looked at her like that, who could make her smile so wide it could split her cheeks, but at thirty-six she was still waiting for her perfect woman.
Next was a photograph of the day Chloe was born. She was obscured by blankets but her parents were looking at her like she was their whole world. Then, Chloe and her mother—nothing monumental, Chloe being pushed on a swing, but she knew it was one of the last photos her dad had taken before her mother had turned skinny and pale, succumbing to the disease festering inside her.
Naomi appeared at the top of the staircase as Chloe cleaned the last photo—Chloe at her graduation ceremony in her cap and gown, her dad’s arm around her shoulders, a beaming smile on his face.
Chloe ran her fingertip along the face she hadn’t seen in half a year, tears stinging at the back of her eyes.
“You okay?” Naomi asked, hand pressing against the small of her back.
“Yeah. Sometimes I forget he’s gone, you know?”
“I know.” Naomi pulled her into a one-armed hug. “Professional-looking photo, isn’t it?”
Chloe cracked a smile—Naomi, the “photographer” in question, always knew exactly what to say to cheer her up. “It’s all right.”
“Rude.”
* * *
A plate clattered out of Amy’s hands and into the sink, splashing the front of her T-shirt with soapy water.
Gabi, on drying duty, turned to her with a frown. “You okay, Amy? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
The ghost of my past, maybe. “I’ve lived here for well over half my life. I think if it was haunted, I’d know about it.” She fished the plate out of the water and scrubbed it clean, trying not to focus on the lights in the distance—lights she hadn’t seen on for a long time.
“I don’t know,” Gabi said, tilting her head to one side as Amy handed her the plate. “Ghosts could be sneaky. Pop up when you least expect them.”
“I’m not so sure.” With the last of the dishes done, Amy dried her hands on the towel Gabi offered her.
“So?” Gabi asked, turning toward Amy and resting her hip against the counter. “You gonna tell me what’s the matter?”
Knowing that if she didn’t, Gabi would weasel it out of her anyway, Amy sighed and jerked her head toward the house on the horizon, its bright windows stark against the dark sky of the countryside. “Looks like there’s someone in the Roberts house. It took me by surprise, is all.”
“Oh yeah.” Gabi squinted to see through the kitchen window. “Well, didn’t he pass away a few months ago?”
Amy nodded, remembering the sad announcement in the local newspaper. Chris Roberts had kept to himself, for the most part, after his daughter had fled the nest, but Amy had fond memories of the man.
“Maybe they’re selling the house. Or maybe someone’s moving in. Didn’t he have a daughter?”
“Uh, yeah he did. But there’s no way she’d move back here.”
“Why?”
“She just wouldn’t.” Amy was sure. Why would Chloe want to come back to a town that had treated her so poorly? Amy knew she’d played her part in it and felt a twinge of guilt settling in her gut like it did when she glanced at the empty Roberts house, sometimes.
“You said that about this place once, too.”
“Yeah, before my idiotic brother chopped off half his hand.”
Danny strolled into the kitchen at that moment with a squirming three-year-old balanced on his hip. Flipping her off with his good hand behind his son’s head, he said, “I think Sam wants his Tía Amy to bathe him tonight.”
“Is that right?” Amy asked, peering into a pair of wide green eyes. When Sam nodded, she scooped him out of her brother’s arms. “Come on, trouble.”
She traipsed up the stairs, glad for her strenuous day job, because the kid was getting heavy.
The bathroom door opened, and Adam came barrelling out of it and collided with her knees. “Watch it, kiddo.”
“Sorry, Tía Amy.” He looked at her with a cheeky grin he knew she found hard to resist.
“You in a hurry to get to bed or something?”
“Abuela said if I was good, I could read comics before bed!”
“Did she now?” Amy smiled as her mum slipped through the bathroom door at a much more reasonable pace than her grandson. “And were you good?”
“I’m always good!”
“I’m not so sure about that.” She ruffled his damp hair with her free hand.
“I was, wasn’t I, Abuela?”
“You were,” Leanne said, eyes fond as she gazed at him. Adam’s grin showed off the gap where he’d lost his front tooth a few days ago.
“Go on.” Amy stepped aside to let him pass, and he hurtled down the hallway to the bedroom he and Sam shared. Her old room, in fact, but she’d been more than happy to give it up for the privacy of the barn conversion she’d had done when she’d moved back to Corthwaite.
She and Danny had managed eighteen years sharing a roof—any more would be pushing it.
“I left the water in for you. It’s still hot.”
“Thanks, Mum.” Amy stepped into the bathroom and set Sam on the white tiles. The bath was nearly overflowing with bubbles—which Amy suspected had little to do with her mum and everything to do with Adam—and Sam giggled when she scooped some out and put them on her nose.
“You need help with those buttons, kiddo?” she asked, when he struggled with the fastening of his jeans. She waited for him to step toward her before plucking it free, and only tugged his dinosaur shirt over his head when he stuck his hands in the air.
Amy’s knees protested when she settled beside the bath to wash his hair. God, she was getting old. She thought of her mum’s arthritis, worsening every year, and knew a similar fate awaited her. Such was the life of a farmer, she supposed, carefully tilting Sam’s head back when she washed the shampoo out of his hair, knowing he hated getting water in his eyes and wanting to avoid a meltdown at all costs.
He hated the hairdryer, too, so she gently dried his mop of brown curls with a towel once he was out; Sam’s gaze remained focused on the water swirling down the drain. His favourite Paw Patrol pyjamas sat on the counter, and once he was in them, she let him take her hand and pull her to his bedroom.
Adam sat engrossed in a comic book, and her mum was curled in the armchair situated between the two single beds.
